Startling numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point to a 30 percent increase in overdoses treated in emergency rooms between July 2016 and September 2017.

Opioid overdoses in large cities increased 54 percent in 16 states.

The “amount of prescription #opioids prescribed was approximately three times as high in 2015 as it was in 1999 – enough for every American to be medicated around the clock for 3 weeks,” acting CDC Director Anne Schuchat said on Twitter last week.

Amount of prescription #opioids prescribed was approximately three times as high in 2015 as it was in 1999 – enough for every American to be medicated around the clock for 3 weeks. #opioidcrisis

“The #opioid overdose epidemic is one of the biggest health threats facing the U.S.," the CDC director’s Twitter account said late last year. "More Americans are dying each day from opioid overdoses, in every community across the nation."

(Sanofi via AP). This undated product image provided by Sanofi shows Praluent 75 mg, a drug sold by Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. It’s one of a new class of cholesterol medicines that lower cholesterol far more than statin medicines can. A key ...